China, Japan, Korea Fuel Record WIPO Filings

Law360 (March 9, 2005, 12:00 AM EST) -- A surge in filings from China, Japan and South Korea helped propel the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Patent Co-operation Treaty to a record number of applications last year, according to the U.N. body.

Applications rose at a rate of 4.3% from the previous year to a preliminary estimate of 120,100 in 2004, WIPO said.

Patent filings through WIPO have been rising steadily since the treaty system began in 1978, with a total one million applications since then.